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Friday, December 30, 2016

whew.... the holidays are OVER! are all of you as whooped as I am?! ;) I have been so tired this week, trying to get over the mad rush of the past few weeks.... the good news is that yesterday I was in my craft room for FUNSIES! :) that is always a good thing!!!!

a coffee and tea loving friend of mine was interested in some tea bags that I had sent to another friend. I told her I'd get some in the mail to her, but you know us crafters - we can't just toss something in an envelope! we have to make a fancy shmancy card to go with!!!

so I grabbed some fun stamps sets I had won a little bit ago from Dare 2 B Artzy. I stamped the tea pot and steam from the Tea 4 Two set in Versamark and then embossed with copper ep. the image was then watercolored with SU! inks. the sentiment comes from the Serenity Tea set. there is a matching die set that goes with both of these sets that I hope to pick up eventually. I love when one set of dies works with several stamp sets, don't you?!

papers are from the Basic Grey Typeset collection. the main image die is by Spellbinders and the cool peek-a-boo die for the bg is by Tim Holtz. isn't it fun?! I added a little tea tag to the baker's twine bow. vintage buttons are from my stash and little flower is by Wild Orchid Crafts. a tiny snippet of mini ric rack at the bottom adds a touch of fun and whimsy.

thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a most amazing weekend and enjoy your New Year's Eve celebrations, whether it's a quiet evening at home or a huge blowout with friends!

I also want to thank you for so faithfully stopping by and leaving me such wonderful, inspiring, and encouraging comments throughout the year! you make my heart so full!
Jennifer

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

I hope all of you had a most joyous holiday, whether you were celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah. for a few short hours, all of my sons were home and it was absolute bliss for this mom! :)

but you didn't stop by for that. all each of you wants to know about is who won the Unity Stamps. ;) it's okay. I'm the same way when it comes to free stamps and prizes.

I do want to share a card with all of you very quickly though. in the midst of preparing for the holiday, we had some sad news come our way. David's aunt suddenly passed away last week. he, Tyler, and Ryan made a fast trip to Pittsburgh for the viewing. Dave's sister from San Antonio was able to fly up, too, so they all had a nice visit with Dave's dad and family.

I made a sympathy card using the Unity set, "You are Important." I thought this flower was just gorgeous and so perfect to convey our feelings. the sentiment stamp is by Memory Box. I don't have any yet from Unity that would go with it.

paper is from the Basic Grey Kioshi collection. shimmer ribbon and pretty purple twine are from Really Reasonable Ribbon, and buttons are from my vintage stash.

the flower was stamped onto watercolor paper with Versamark, embossed with white ep, and then watercolored with multiple shades of SU! inks. I love the look this gave. :) edges were distressed and inked. I went back over it all with the SU! ink squirty tool.

Please send your mailing address to me at jenscull (at) yahoo (dot) com. You have until the end of the week to contact me or you will forfeit your prize.

Thanks to everyone for leaving such kind and thoughtful comments on my GIU week projects! :) and a very special thank you to those of you who were so VERY amazing and left comments on each one of my posts!!! y'all rock! :)
Jennifer

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Merry Christmas! the day we've all been waiting for is here! :) I hope and pray you are surrounded by people who love you and appreciate the fabulous person you are!!!!!

I am sharing the last of my Christmas creations with all of you today. this one was made for a very special young lady, and I am told she really liked it. :)

I used the adorable "Elf 3" image from Bugaboo and the current sketch for their Stella Says Sketch challenge. stickles, shimmerz paint, Viva Decor pearl pen, and a clear wink of stella glitter pen were used to accent the main image.

papers are from the Authentique Retro Christmas collection. sentiment above the image is by Create with TLC and the stamped sentiment is from Unity Stamps. main die is by Spellbinders and holly flourish die is by Cheery Lynn. little poinsettias are from Petaloo. lace trim and buttons are vintage. tiny jingle bell is by SU!

after my crazy, crazy past few weeks, I am taking several days off to recuperate! I will be back on Tuesday to post the winners of my GIU week though. see you then! :)

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Christmas Eve is upon us and the mice are certainly stirring at my house! we are busy busy busy getting ready for the big day! :)

I had so much fun with my Growing in Unity week that I thought I would give all of you a bonus day! :)

The card I am sharing with you is one that Tyler gave to his future in-laws. they are big nature buffs like we are, so it might be a bit non-traditional, but it fit them to a T!

I first created the base by mixing up a modge podge of colors using gelatos and SU! ink refills on watercolor paper. this was sprayed very lightly with water.

once it dried, I stamped the trees from "A Joyous Season" stamp set. the deer were fussy cut from SU! natural vanilla cs.

little smidgens of moss and flowers by Petaloo were added. a bow made from natural ribbon that I picked up last year at World Market wraps around the upper portion of the card. red tinsel trim holds a few rusty bells.

I'll have a post tomorrow, but completely understand if you are too busy with your family to stop by. Merry Christmas to all of you! may your day overflow with happiness and joy! :)

Friday, December 23, 2016

oh so sad...... today is my final Growing in Unity (GIU) day..... I have had a wonderful time both making and sharing my projects with all of you! I hope you have enjoyed stopping by for your daily coffee and inspiration! :)

I've saved the biggest of my projects for last, but you have to keep it a secret. you see, this is a present for my husband and he can't see it before Christmas! ;) I tell ya, keeping him from seeing it as I was making it was a doozy! all of the layers took a while to dry, so keeping this in different places he wouldn't come across it was quite the challenge!

I started with an empty bottle of his favorite Rye whiskey. after first painting with a layer of gesso, I added at least 8 different layers of various colors of acrylic paint. I then lightly sanded the bottle to reveal the assorted layers underneath, at times sanding all the way down to the bare glass.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Well we are in the final stretch for my Growing in Unity posts this week. y'all have been so nice to me and left such kind comments on my projects! thank you so very much! :)

Here in northeast Ohio, especially the area of the state where we live, it gets downright COLD in the winter. currently our temps are in the single digits or teens. lots of beautiful snow is on the ground, with quite a bit of ice mixed in.

that means in order to keep warm, you need a big cup of coffee or hot cocoa! for our wonderful neighbors, I made a canister of homemade hot cocoa mix using a fun assortment of Unity Stamps.

I started with a re-purposed Nestle Quick container (it's actually part of the cocoa recipe) and added digital papers from the Design by Dani Woodland Spring collection. it's funny that the papers aren't a Christmas collection at all, but rather a spring one. I just loved the colors, though, to match the canister lid. ;)

images from the "Hello Winter" stamp set by Susan Weckesser were stamped on Stampin' Up! natural white.

the cutey girl was stamped and then cut with a Tim Holtz stitched die. I also stamped the doily from the Layers of Life "Magical Bliss and Wonder" set after masking. the trees were added and then several little snowflakes from the same LoL set in kraft ink. more snow flakes were made with Viva Decor pearl drops. the flower center is dotted with distress stickles and the snow on the ground is created with stickles as well.

more snowflakes from the LoL set, also stamped on the same natural white cs, with dual shades of blue ink, were fussy cut and added to the canister.

gorgeous burlap and lace ribbon from Michael's wraps around the canister and ties in a bow.

a beautiful glitter snowflake, also from Michael's, acts as a lovely little backdrop to the precious girl image by Susan.

a doily sprayed with glimmer mist and tree cut with a Tim Holtz die help accent the canister. a few snowflake stickers, also from Michael's give the final decoration. normally I would have added buttons, but our neighbors have 2 adorable little girls under the age of 3 and I didn't want to chance a button coming off and presenting a choking hazard to either one of them.

tickets were cut from the "Ticket to Christmas" set and lightly painted. I love the way the inks ran together to create a vintage look! distress markers were used to accent.

the top is decorated with a beautiful velvet poinsettia, gold glitter dusted berries, a pretty bow made with ribbons from Really Reasonable Ribbon, snippet of same burlap and lace, and a little pinecone.

that does it for today's post! if you would like the recipe for my hot cocoa mix, head over to this post. the mix used in this canister uses hazelnut flavored creamer. you can use all different flavors for fun!

thanks so much for stopping by! don't forget to leave a comment on any of my GIU posts for your chance to win a Unity Stamps grab bag! :)

check back tomorrow for my final post.
Jennifer

p.s. a reminder that you can enlarge any photo on my blog simply by clicking on it. the picture will open in another window for you. :)

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

We're to my mid week project for Growing in Unity (GIU) and I am going to show all of you what my typical card style is really like.... :)

As I was browsing through the Unity store one day looking for stamps for this week, I came across this gorgeous stamp by Susan Weckesser called "World of Christmas." I instantly fell in love!

oh good golly, look at all of that vintage glory!!! doesn't it just make you swoon right in your computer chair?! into my shopping cart it went!

I stamped the image onto natural vanilla cs from Stampin' Up! and only used a q-tip to shade it. this helps give such an ethereal, shabby look to the piece.

papers are from the Basic Grey Evergreen collection, flowers are an assortment from Wild Orchid Crafts, Petaloo, and Hobby Lobby, and lace & buttons are from my vintage stash.

corner snowflake die is by Creative Expressions and large rectangular die is by Spellbinders. a gold doily, distressed seam binding snippet tied with linen thread, and rusty jingle bell finish the card. a wink of stella glitter pen was brushed over the 'Merry Christmas' to give it a light sparkle.

thank you so much for stopping by today for my coffee of the day! I hope you have enjoyed the things I've created for you so far! :)

be sure to leave a comment on any of my GIU posts for a chance to win a Unity grab bag of stamps!

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Welcome back for my second Growing in Unity (GIU) gal post. How's your holiday shopping going? have you finished? started? ;) my husband used to have a tradition of waiting until Christmas Eve to actually BEGIN his shopping! thankfully after 30 years of marriage, I can happily say that is no longer a tradition of his! grins! he likes to start in October or so like the most of us....

today I want to share with you a few somewhat 'quick' little ideas for gifts using Unity stamps. now bear in mind that quick for me might not be quick for you, I am a VERY slow crafter. I kinda like it that way, as it gives me plenty of time to think about the people I am making things for. once upon a time I could whip up a card in less than 10 minutes, but these days it takes me several hours just to paint my images. but it is sooooooooo relaxing! my cat, Moon Pie loves to come into my craft room with me, so it's really a special time. :)

now on to my gift ideas ~

first up is a tag I made to go on a candle that was sent to my Mother-in-law. if you have a Michael's craft store nearby, these jar candles are fabulous! every once in a while they go on sale 4/$10. otherwise I'll use my 40% off coupons on them. the fragrances are quite nice and even when I burn the candles all day long, they'll still last almost a week.

when my MIL came for a visit this spring, I hooked her on them, too. so I found one in a scent I knew she would like and added it along with some other goodies for her for Christmas.

the tag is made using the pretty "Peace Dove" image, stamped in versamark on one of the freebie tags that came along in the 'thank you' gift Unity sent in my last order. I then embossed it in copper ep, once that dried, I added some frantage powders and spritzes of a few shades of glimmer mist. touches of distressing to the tag's edges, a vintage holly sprig, and pretty ribbons turn this into a fabulous gift!

Next up are some cutey little gift bags that I also found at Michael's. These use a combination of stamp sets that might cause you to scratch your head at first, but they really look great together!

Monday, December 19, 2016

Hip Hip Hooray! the long awaited day is finally here! Today begins my stint as a Growing in Unity gal, or GIU gal for short! to say I've been a Nervous Nelly is putting it MILDLY! my lawsie, do you have any idea how humbling it is to be chosen, but then to be assigned the week prior to Christmas?! ack!!! ;) no pressure..... nah..... NOT!

okay, so here we go....
I am a coffee lover. alright. some MIGHT say I'm an addict. of course I don't, but then I do drink out of a cup that can hold 30 oz. of the beverage of my choice! tee hee!

so to start off my GIU week, yep, I had to go with coffee projects!
now I'm going to warn you. all of my projects this week are going to be all mixy matchy. I've used stamps from various sets, so I will link them all in the body of my posts. I'm not very conventional. and my projects are about as far from CAS as you can get. that's just how I roll. :)

yeah, I also tend to 'talk' a lot! you should hear me irl! (insert my hubby's eye roll here....)

I came across this way cool card die from Sizzix and knew it would be great fun to use at some point this week. the die is called the Ornate Label Fold-a-long. papers are from Basic Grey, sniff sniff sniff..... okay, no more lamenting my fave paper company closing it's doors.....

I decorated the outsides with vintage button cards and distressed seam binding. each was stamped with a sentiment from the "Joy to Go" set. poinsettias from Hobby Lobby were then added.

inside I added images from the "Hello Love" and "Joy to Go" sets. the sentiment is also from "Joy to Go" and accented with vintage holly sprigs & pearl-ex drops. each image has accents of white gel pen stickles, shimmerz paint, and/or Viva Decor pearl paint.

thank you so much for stopping by! if you would like a chance to win a Unity grab bag of stamps, just leave a comment on this or any of my GIU posts this week. see you tomorrow! :)

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Coffee of the Day - Chocolate Peppermint, just the thing to go with an assortment of cookies! :)

Hello to all of you on this bright and beautiful Sunday morning! :) I am so not ready for Christmas to arrive, but I know by the time it gets here, my house will have been tinseled and hollied and bedecked in ribbons gallore! you see, I've been so very busy working on holiday projects for everyone that not one decoration has been put up yet. that changes as of next week! I am almost finished with projects in the craft room! hooray! :)

but you are here today because you want to taste a yummy cookie, don't you? you have arrived here from LYNDA's absolutely gorgeous blog if you are on our hop with The Digi Bells. if you are just starting out, please stop by The Digi Bells blog for the complete list. you don't want to miss even one stop of the fun, since everyone is sharing cookie recipe cards and this adorable new digi stamp, "Home Baked Christmas," that is making it's way into the store today. :)

every year for Christmas, each of my sons gets to choose at least one Christmas cookie that I will bake, plus we have several favorites that are always on the list. the recipe that follows is one of the 'always' cookies! if you follow my blog, you know that our oldest son, Tyler, became engaged just this past week. I decided to make this card for his fiance, Danielle, so she could have one of Tyler's favorite cookie recipes for her collection. :) we all know that Santa's favorite cookies are Daddy's favorite cookies! :)

Because the recipe is a bit long, I wasn't sure how I was going to fit it into a standard card format. that is when I came up with the idea of making a 'Z fold' card.

papers are from a pretty vintage pad I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

all of the dies are by Spellbinders.

flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts with the exception of the poinsettia on the frosting page. that one is by Making Memories.

buttons and lace are from my vintage stash. accents were made with shimmerz paint and crystal effects.

digital images on the recipe pages are some of the free ones Elisabeth so kindly sends out each week to her newsletter subscribers. you can sign up here if you aren't already on the list. you'll receive a free image every week in your mailbox! :)

If you would like to see any of the photos larger, just click on them and they will open in another window for you.

I'm the last hop on the stop, so thank you very much for popping over! head to The Digi Bells blog and leave a lovely comment for Elisabeth!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Jennifer

p.s. to my regular blog followers, tomorrow begins my Growing in Unity week. I am so VERY excited to share all of my projects with you! I hope you check back each day, not only to see what I have created, but for a chance to win some fun stamps!

Saturday, December 17, 2016

It's Saturday and Christmas is right around the corner! How are your preparations coming? I feel a bit like a hamster on a treadmill, to tell you quite honestly. ;) lots of running and running and not getting anywhere! grins!

I'm sharing a new card with all of you today, made with one of the cutey freebies Elisabeth Bell so graciously sends into the mailboxes of all of her newsletter subscribers. I sure hope each of YOU has signed up for the newsletter! if not, just pop over here right away.

The little image is called "Gingerbread Man Corner" and I've paired it with a sentiment from Create with TLC. by using png formatted images, layering is super easy!

papers are some fun ones I found on a recent trip to Michael's. main and matting die are by Spellbinders, tree die from Sizzix, and holly flourish die is by Cheery Lynn. little poinsettias are from Petaloo. vintage buttons and twine are from my stahs. some little accent dots were added to the card base border with my white gel pen for interest.

Friday, December 16, 2016

Wooo Hooo! it's Friday! phew.... I am actually taking the day off from crafting once I finish typing up this post. and one of my treats for the day is making the journey into Starbuck's to celebrate! I am very excited about that, I tell you! the closest one to me is a 30 minute drive, so it's not often I am able to treat myself to one of their yummy coffees. today is the day though! :D

I'm sharing a fun project I have made for the family of my oldest son's fiance. yes, you read that correctly. I said FIANCE! Tyler and Danielle became engaged a few days ago! we are over the moon excited for the two of them!!!

last year I made a container of hot cocoa mix for Danielle's family and they all loved it so much. they asked for more of the mix, in fact, before winter was over. so I thought I would make more for them this Christmas, but wanted to create a different type of container to hold it, so I have re-purposed a coffee can.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Winner at Holly Jolly Christmas ChallengesCoffee of the Day - Maple Fudge

Today's Christmas card marks my last as a Design Team member over at Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Extra challenge blog. it makes me sad, but all good things come to a close so new ones can begin. :) I am so grateful to the time I had with these lovely ladies!

I'll be on the lookout for a new year round Christmas challenge blog to join, so will keep all of you posted as to how that goes. I love to make Christmas cards! :)

for my card, I used the cutey Winter Bird House image by Bugaboo, our constant, image was printed onto kraft cs and snow was colored with a pencil. stickles was added over the top for a touch of shine and sparkle. wonderful sponsor. papers are from a neat pad I picked up at Target.

holiday twine was wrapped around the main image, which was cut with a Spellbinders die. upper corner is embellished with a poinsettia by Petaloo and holly leaves & berries from Wild Orchid Crafts. a little ribbon snippet peaks out for a touch of fun and whimsy. :) a doily and vintage button add interest along the border while a Unity Stamps sentiment completes the card.

enjoy your day and I'll see you back here tomorrow with another crafty project! :)

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FTC Declaration -

In the spirit of full disclosure, I declare that I am a hobby/freelance designer. In the past I have received products that I promoted and endorsed as a hobby/freelance designer for free or at a discount from the companies listed on my Design Team blog page (or 'guest DT'). Any product that I mention is a product I have used in my designs and recommend with complete honesty. As a hobby/freelance designer, I have the freedom to promote/endorse products that I personally use and love. I have not, nor will I, knowingly endorse a product that I feel is of substandard quality. I, however, would like to mention that any products or stores that I endorse or promote with praise are done so honestly at the time of publication. I will not knowingly make false statements to my readers. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you.